Library / English Dictionary

PRETEND

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The enactment of a pretense

Example:

it was just pretend

Synonyms:

make-believe; pretend

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("pretend" is a kind of...):

feigning; pretence; pretending; pretense; simulation (the act of giving a false appearance)

Derivation:

pretend (represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Imagined as in a play

Example:

dangling their legs in the water to catch pretend fish

Synonyms:

make-believe; pretend

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

unreal (lacking in reality or substance or genuineness; not corresponding to acknowledged facts or criteria)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

State insincerely

Example:

She pretends to be an expert on wine

Synonyms:

pretend; profess

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "pretend" is one way to...):

claim (assert or affirm strongly; state to be true or existing)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make believe with the intent to deceive

Example:

He shammed a headache

Synonyms:

affect; dissemble; feign; pretend; sham

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "pretend" is one way to...):

belie; misrepresent (represent falsely)

Verb group:

make; make believe; pretend (represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pretend"):

play possum (to pretend to be dead)

take a dive (pretend to be knocked out, as of a boxer)

bull; bullshit; fake; talk through one's hat (speak insincerely or without regard for facts or truths)

mouth (articulate silently; form words with the lips only)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

pretender (a person who makes deceitful pretenses)

pretending; pretense (the act of giving a false appearance)

pretense (pretending with intention to deceive)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like

Example:

She makes like an actress

Synonyms:

make; make believe; pretend

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "pretend" is one way to...):

act; play; represent (play a role or part)

Verb group:

affect; dissemble; feign; pretend; sham (make believe with the intent to deceive)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pretend"):

go through the motions (pretend to do something by acting as if one was really doing it)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

pretend (the enactment of a pretense)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation

Example:

I cannot pretend to say that you are wrong

Synonyms:

guess; hazard; pretend; venture

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "pretend" is one way to...):

speculate (talk over conjecturally, or review in an idle or casual way and with an element of doubt or without sufficient reason to reach a conclusion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pretend"):

anticipate; call; forebode; foretell; predict; prognosticate; promise (make a prediction about; tell in advance)

surmise; suspect (imagine to be the case or true or probable)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 5

Meaning:

Behave unnaturally or affectedly

Example:

She's just acting

Synonyms:

act; dissemble; pretend

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Verb group:

act; behave; do (behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct or comport oneself)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pretend"):

assume; feign; sham; simulate (make a pretence of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

pretender (a person who makes deceitful pretenses)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Put forward a claim and assert right or possession of

Example:

pretend the title of King

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "pretend" is one way to...):

arrogate; claim; lay claim (demand as being one's due or property; assert one's right or title to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

Pretender (a claimant to the throne or to the office of ruler (usually without just title))

pretense (a false or unsupportable quality)

pretension (the advancing of a claim)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I cannot pretend to describe what I then felt.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He called to him to stop, but the guest pretended not to hear.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I did not pretend to be watching him, but I kept strict observation all the same.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But those other gentlemen, are they what they pretend to be?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I do not pretend to it.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

"Though we have seen him once or twice at my uncle's, it is rather too much to pretend to know him very well."

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your ladyship.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

His favourite way of ignoring her was to lie down, with his head on his fore-paws, and pretend sleep.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It was not a dangerous exploit for he could always pretend that he had simply looked in to ask a question.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He is a professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)